Facebook's Zuckerberg is killing the animals he eats.

Facebook's Zuckerberg slit a goat's throat? Wow.

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"I'm eating a lot healthier foods," Zuckerberg told Fortune magazine's Patricia Sellers. "And I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals. It's easy to take the food we eat for granted when we can eat good things every day."

On his journey toward a more humane approach to food, the 27-year-old billionaire (and mostly vegetarian) has killed not only goats but also chickens and pigs. Zuckerberg started off with the relatively goreless boiling of a live lobster.

“The most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it after having not eaten any seafood or meat in a while," he told Fortune. "I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/05/facebooks-zuckberg-slit-a-goats-throat.html

If they eat meat, they aren't a vegetarian.

That didn't last long. By '93 we didn't touch it anymore - smelled more like cat food than human food. We eat egg and dairy, as many if not most vegetarians do. Vegan is a really tough diet to keep from the nutritionally sound perspective, but it is certainly possible.

I know a lot of "vegetarians" who eat chicken. Birds must be a vegetable. Yes, that comment is in contradiction to the fact that I do egg and dairy. I also know one who lives on pizza and french fries.

My three daughters are life-time vegetarians. The eldest did a little tuna as an infant and tried some bacon and other small quantities of meat but stopped by age 4 (cumulative less than an 1/8th of a McBurger). The middle one licked some meat a few times but didn't eat it. The youngest has never touched it. They're 16, almost 18, and almost 20 now and all lean, healthy, and 2nd degree black belts.

"Pan-mammalist." I have no illusion about being a vegetarian particularly when I know so many vegans.

:rofl:

Pan-mammalist gets me stares.

My philosophy is that I do not eat anything with hair, fur or feathers. I am trying to slowly wean myself off seafood. I could never be a vegan because I love dairy food.

"If they eat meat, they aren't a vegetarian."


Right. You'll notice the use of the word "mostly" before "vegetarian".

If he eats mostly vegetables but also eats meat, how is that different from anyone else? Everyone has food preferences and eats some kinds of food more than others.

It's not a big deal, though. I just thought that phrase was interesting.

it is a diet that is primarily vegetarian but not exclusively vegetarian. I eat fish perhaps twice a month. The other 28 days I am exclusively vegetarian. My diet is 'mostly vegetarian'.

I'm mostly left-handed, but can only use scissors and play guitar right handed. "How is that any different from all the other right-handed people...?"

:shrug:

just tending to or favoring it. Nobody uses only their left hand for everything.

It’s more akin to saying, "I’m mostly against the death penalty. I only support it in certain cases." That is the position of everyone who supports the death penalty – unless they support it as a punishment for every crime from jaywalking to murder.

"the exclusion of meat from one's diet most of the time".



You know exactly how that is different from the average diet in the Western world.

so saying their diet is "mostly vegetarian" is a description of what they eat; they are not professing strict adherence to a New Age religion.

That is why it is unique.

and then asks for bacon on it.

perhaps because she looks for dates in the wrong bars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XnplSo8I4

definition and eating meat is not part of that definition.

and that it did not really need a full explanation, right?

Eating a mostly vegetable diet. Vs. "and mostly vegetarian." To vegetarians, there is a difference that does not need a "full explanation."

You might think that we all know what he meant but, for vegetarians, it only reveals ignorance.

Sure, we can quibble over proper meaning and semantics, but his point was understood. Right or wrong, this is done in our language all the time. Its hardly something new.

You are right, its not the MOST correct term, but us it really worth all the fuss? Or is this just a hot button issue for you?

It waters down the original definition to the point where people won't know what vegetarian truly means. That then leads to people calling themselves "vegetarian" even when they are still eating fish or chicken or other non-red meats.

Let's use an analogy that might be significant to you. If you knew someone that was pretty much an atheist but still held some spiritual beliefs, wouldn't you object to them referring to themselves as "mostly atheist"? ;)

"Mostly vegetarian" is not correct and it never will be correct, no matter how everyone else "reads" it. You either are a vegetarian or not. You either are an atheist, or you are not. Is that clear enough?

Atheism means "without belief in a god or gods." Says nothing about spiritual beliefs, or chi, or phlogiston.

:hi:

what if one follows the food pyramid? Does that make them "mostly vegetarian"?

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

myself one now. Although, other people refer to me as one because I rarely eat meat (and never red meat). I correct them.

That is all.

with the solar-powered flashing lights. "To Protect and Serve Lightly Steamed."

just like every person in the world.

“Vegetarians” are unique because they eat only vegetables and no meat. I eat vegetables and meat. Can I call myself a “vegetarian”?

The point here is people are playing petty word police bullshit. Guess what, its the english language and words change meaning whenever society fucking feels like acknowledging a change. These days, people can get away with saying they eat "mostly vegetarian" because most normal people hear that and get the painfully obvious meaning behind what they are saying.

“Language evolves” and “words change definition” are excuses used primarily by those people who do not want to admit making a mistake. Language does change: over time and through shifts in usage by many people — not through the misuse of a word by a small group.

The reason vegetarians are distinct from other people is that their diet excludes meat entirely. Preferring vegetables to meat is no different from preferring hot dogs to hamburgers.

I know--and get annoyed with--quite a few people who do the old, "Well, I'm a vegetarian, except I like some prime rib now and then, and I do eat chicken, and...."

Either you're a vegetarian or you're not. :shrug: Zuckerberg is not.

The phrase "infinite shades of grey" springs to mind...

One is either a vegetarian or is not; one either eats meat or does not.

If it is possible to eat meat and be a vegetarian, then every person on Earth is a vegetarian.

Someone can in fact eat a mostly vegetarian diet (meaning they eat only vegetables and fruits the vast majority of the time) and make the proclamation that they eat a mostly vegetarian diet. Vegetarian is not just a title ascribed to a type of person.

It is neither a diet or a person. It's a way of life that includes both. You are using a modifier in your wording to get around the actual definition. That is, you add the word "diet" and elsewhere have added the word "eating" in the phrase "mostly vegetarian" and changed the meaning completely, counter to the quoted text.

"Mostly vegetarian" is as wrong as "mostly atheist". It doesn't matter that languages change. Some words keep their original meanings even back to their roots. Why not accept and defend that for the word "vegetarian"? I am, and will continue to correct people when they use it incorrectly. That helps to keep the language strong, too ;)

VegetarianISM is a lifestyle. Vegetarianism is also a religion as your own analogy points out.

most·ly   /ˈmoʊstli/ Show Spelled
Show IPA

–adverb
1. for the most part; in the main: The work is mostly done.
2. chiefly; principally.
3. generally; customarily.

Medical Dictionary

1 veg·e·tar·i·an definition
Pronunciation: /ˌvej-ə-ˈter-ē-ən/
Function: n
: an individual who believes in or practices vegetarianism


2 vegetarian definition
Function: adj
1 : of or relating to vegetarians
2 : consisting wholly of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products vegetarian - diet

"Mostly Vegetarian" in this sense means Mostly eating a diet that consists wholly of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products vegetarian. Considering the definition of the word mostly and this medically accepted use of the word vegetarian, the original article used the term 100% correctly.

Consider your attempt to correct anyone denied and irrelevant. We will use the word vegetarian in this sense and there isn't a god damn thing you can do about it.

such as yourself that cannot refrain from being as uncivil as possible in conversation. I am neither "full of shit" nor "irrelevant" and would ask you to at least attempt to argue your points with some semblance of civility as maintained by DU's rules.

In the meantime, I will continue to correct everyone else as you seem to be impervious to such actions.

Here's some more definitions, from the same source, that you left out:


vegetarian veg·e·tar·i·an (věj'ĭ-târ'ē-ən)
n.
One who practices vegetarianism. adj.

Of or relating to vegetarianism or vegetarians.

Consisting primarily or wholly of vegetables and vegetable products.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.


whol·ly   
{hoh-lee, hohl-lee}
–adverb
1. entirely; totally; altogether; quite.
2. to the whole amount, extent, etc.
3. so as to comprise or involve all.
Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English holliche. See whole, -ly

—Can be confused: holey, holy, wholly .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.


pri·ma·ri·ly
{prahy-mair-uh-lee, -mer-, prahy-mer-uh-lee, -mer-uh-}
–adverb
1. essentially; mostly; chiefly; principally: They live primarily from farming.
2. in the first instance; at first; originally: Primarily a doctor, he later became a lawyer.
Origin: 1610–20; primary + -ly
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.

primarily (ˈpraɪmərəlɪ)

— adv
1. principally; chiefly; mainly
2. at first; originally

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009



vegetarianism

veg·e·tar·i·an·ism
{vej-i-tair-ee-uh-niz-uhm}
–noun
the beliefs or practices of a vegetarian.
Use vegetarianism in a Sentence
Origin: 1850–55; vegetarian + -ism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.

vegetarianism (ˌvɛdʒɪˈtɛərɪəˌnɪzəm)

— n
the principle or practice of excluding all meat and fish, and sometimes, in the case of vegans, all animal products (such as eggs, cheese, etc) from one's diet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009


Medical Dictionary

veg·e·tar·i·an·ism definition
Pronunciation: /-ē-ə-ˌniz-əm/
Function: n
: the theory or practice of living on a vegetarian diet
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source

vegetarianism veg·e·tar·i·an·ism (věj'ĭ-târ'ē-ə-nĭz'əm)
n.
The practice of subsisting on a diet composed primarily or wholly of vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts, and seeds, with or without eggs and dairy products.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.


Online Etymological Dictionary

vegetarian
1839, irregular formation from vegetable (n.) + -arian, as in agrarian, etc. "The general use of the word appears to have been largely due to the formation of the Vegetarian Society in Ramsgate in 1847" {OED}.


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I would ask that you go over to the vegetarian forum here on DU and make the same statement. You will at least find other vegetarians there that can argue this point perhaps better than I. They will at least be far more civil about it.

And posting more definitions of the word just further proves my point that its not solely a description of a strict lifestyle. Its a type of diet. If I ate mediterranean food 90% of the time, I'm mostly eating mediterranean. If I eat vegetarian food 90% of the time, I'm mostly eating vegetarian.

You've been proven wrong. Your petty picking on people over the word is silly. Your entire argument is completely incorrect. Theres nothing more that needs to be said.

or purposely ignored it, is the original quote, in context and as follows:



Now to quote you, word for word and in the right order:



See the difference? Your addition of a modifier changes the meaning or definition completely.

I'm also going to assume that you either missed or ignored the quoted definition on vegetarianism. That's the lifestyle part and it includes both the diet as well as the label of the type of person called a "vegetarian".

Whomever wrote the original story could have avoided any confusion by saying "almost vegetarian" instead of "mostly" as "almost" would be truly correct. Zuckerberg is almost a vegetarian because he still eats meat with an emphasis on having more of a vegetarian diet. But as used in the OP, it's implied that he is most of a vegetarian instead of an omnivore that's cut out most of his meat intake.

Now, please quote me, too, where I have picked on anyone over the proper use of "vegetarian" so I may then apologize for doing so. I might also ask for an apology from you for saying that I am "full of shit".

A vegetarian diet is one that excludes meat entirely. That is what makes different from others.

Saying, “I’m a vegetarian, but I occasionally eat meat” is like saying, “I’m against the death penalty — except in certain cases.” Everyone who supports the death penalty only supports it “in certain cases” and everyone who is not a vegetarian eats both meat and vegetables.

You are so wrong on this its not funny.

Claiming to eat a “mostly vegetarian” diet is as absurd as claiming to be “mostly against the death penalty.”

:hi:

"the most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it"

:scared:

He doesn't hunt. He just likes to kill animals.

Maybe it's Zuckerberg. Honestly, the guy could come off creepy doing a crossword puzzle. Once you imagine him with his "butcher hoody" on, everything goes out the window.

PB

Creepy is eating meat without ever killing an animal. "Normal" yes, in this day and age, but creepy too.

There is a connectivity that just doesn't exist when you eat only things gathered and made ready to eat by others.

picking a tomato and slitting a goat's throat are rather different.

When you raise it, pick it, kill it, and prepare it for consumption, there can be a special connectivity to the land and the cycle of life.

Truly there are significant differences that begin at the kingdom level that separate animals and plants, and I understand that killing and eating animals is a very different experience to some people.

I think what many people fail to realize is that there are similarities. I don't hunt deer or hog in my area but I do fish. When I catch a fish, hit it in the head to kill it, clean it, chop off its head, cook it on the grill, and eat it, I enjoy it the same way I enjoy picking fresh tomatoes off the vine in the garden. There is a connectivity with your food that makes the meal special beyond simple the taste of the food. I say to those who understand that feeling from eating the plants they grow, that is the same feeling people have when they raise or hunt the animals they eat.

To a vegetarian or to someone who is squeamish, I can understand why it would be too different.

This is a little different. I like to eat steak, but I can't say I would enjoy it more if I went to a slaughterhouse and crushed the cow's skull myself. I also like to fish and I do enjoy going out and catching some yellowfin or dolphin and preparing/cooking it. Going to a local farm just so you can cut an animal's throat that you didn't hunt, raise, and aren't even going to butcher yourself is IMO very weird.

I won't eat meat, but I admire the honesty of a person who can acknowledge that meat is killing and owns it with his or her actions.

I asked myself... would I kill an animal myself to eat it?

I would cultivate a vegetable. I'd bake bread. Heck, I'd even milk a cow (I'm not Vegan). I wouldn't kill an animal to eat it unless I had no other choice.

nobody is in denial about how it gets to market, and not everybody is as squeamish as you.

you bought at the grocery store is so not creepy at all.

weren't raised on a factory farm, unlike the non-creepy cello-wrapped meat that DUers are evidently much more comfortable with.

you pay someone else to do is irritating, to say the least.

Completely disconnected from it's origin.

killing a goat and carving it up for personal fulfillment is creepier than killing a goat and carving it up for your customers, or paying a butcher do it for you.

"personal fulfillment"? You're way off track. Why is paying a butcher any better? Why is buying it from the supermarket where it possibly came from a 'food factory' any better?

I spent a significant portion of my childhood on my grandparent's farm, this just isn't an 'outrage' or creepy. It's the way most people on the planet live.

A sociopath, control freak, who wants to spy on everyone, and gets a power trip from killing things.

I think that's the point, right?

"The most interesting thing was how special it felt . . ." It's not about yourself and yourself and yourself. Without a clue about what he's doing.

When we go to the supermarket or a restaurant and eat without understanding where our food came from. Understanding that the meat one is eating was a living animal and gratitude to that animal - that is special and not often comprehended in modern society. And not only meat, but where all our food comes from - the people who labor, usually for low wages, to produce the food we eat - that deserves gratitude too.

I don't understand why so many people are knocking Zuckerberg for what he's doing. He sounds like he's trying to live more consciously. Something we all should do.

Zuckerberg is creepy, and obviously not attuned to what people might think about his efforts at sensitization to animal suffering.

"dabbling in the occult"? First, how the hell do you arrive at that from someone wanting to grow and raise and prepare their own food. And second - there is nothing wrong with occult studies and practices. You sound like some uptight fundie from the 80's with a complete lack of understanding of other people's religious and spiritual practices.

He seems rather creepy now.

A person who eats a mostly vegetarian diet is "mostly vegetarian".

Deal with it.

As sensitive as an Apex Douchebag can be, anywho.

and that meaning is fairly obvious.


Deal with it.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
*splat*
:rofl:

I get really worn out chasing them.

It's not as though the chicken you buy at the store died of natural causes.

when I was a kid. There was nothing special or out of the ordinary about killing a chicken for Sunday dinner.

:D

He sacrifices the "lamb of privacy" for the "meat of profit".

I thought he was "eating" FB users... :)

what a creepy little man he is.

x( There's some freaky-ass people with too much money around these parts.

maybe they are all budding serial killers.

If not, have you ever been to a slaughterhouse?

taking Farmville a bit too seriously, are we?

So rather than throwing their leftovers away, I'll eat them.

I don't want to create an economic demand for meat, but if I like it and it's just going into the garbage otherwise, it seems silly to throw it away.

I don't like meat anymore, though. I have pretty much lost all desire to eat it in the last decade or so of being vegetarian.

I have no problem with killing the animal so that I can eat it, but if you do, you probably shouldn't be eating meat.

I've always said that if you're going to kill it, you'd better eat it. And if you're going to eat it ... well, in this day and age not everyone can raise and butcher their own meat, but for those who can, it strikes me as much more sensible and "right" than getting it from horrendous factory-farmed conditions. I think everyone should have the experience at least once of taking part in the process that brings us our food. Some might use the experience to get away from eating meat altogether, while others might come away with more respect for the whole process and a drive to make sure the animals live their lives in humane conditions while being raised.

I've killed food-animals for myself to eat, and also to feed to other animals. As a tremendous animal-lover of all species, it's never enjoyable (I even wince a bit and say "Sorry!" when I swat a mosquito), but it's part of the natural life cycle. The intent is to be sure the animal has as happy a life as possible up until that point, and that the end is quick and painless.

pompous
adjective
affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important

At least you'll understand the cost of your choices a bit better. I'm not a vegetarian, but killing and gutting an animal for food completely changed the way I look at meat. It's not just a cellophane wrapped stray in a store, but a piece of a living, breathing creature that gave its life so that you can eat. It's not something that should be wasted, or thrown away on cheap drive-thru hamburgers. It also makes you FAR more interested in how that animal was raised, and helped to inspire my support for humane farming practices.

For what it's worth, I've killed more chickens with my hands than I can count, and I did once help a neighbor to kill a goat. We used a sledge...a bit messier, but less painful for the goat and it's nearly instant. I've never liked throat cutting; while it's not really painful, the animal is still alive and terrified while it bleeds to death.

on your grocer's shelf in convenient portion-controlled individual servings. People hate being reminded that every burger and plate of hot wings involves something that was alive being bloodily killed.

It's how many of our great grandparents ate. It's how folks in many parts of the world eat now.

Easier too.

I just started my latest pompous crusade too, to pretend I'm a human being!

First it was the lobster, then chickens and pigs and goats.

Where will he stop?

they eat, they would quickly turn vegetarian. Of course, that excludes hunters because they have no qualms about killing.

:evilgrin:

and the fawning corporate media for publishing this.

If it were a subsistence farmer in Appalachia, or farm-to-table chef in Louisiana, no one would give a shit.